No. 13 Purdue 80, Boise State 64
12/22/2006 12:26 AM
LAS VEGAS (AP) -Katie Gearlds scored a career-high 33 points and No. 13 Purdue defeated Boise State 80-64 in the Duel In The Desert championship game Thursday.
The Boilermakers (11-2), who owned a double-digit lead throughout the second half, also got 14 points from Erin Lawless. FahKara Malone had seven rebounds, four assists and two steals for Purdue.
Jessica Thompson had 15 points for Boise State (8-4). Nadia Begay scored 13 points and Tasha Harris added 12 points and seven rebounds.
A 19-3 run that started with the Boilermakers trailing 11-10 gave them a 29-14 first-half lead. Purdue never led by fewer than 10 points after that and was ahead 46-30 at halftime.
Gearlds, the tournament MVP who made 12 of her 17 field-goal attempts and was 5-for-8 from 3-point range, scored 21 first-half points on 8-of-11 shooting, including three 3-pointers.
She also scored eight points during Purdue's 19-3 run. Lawless tallied the go-ahead 3-pointer with 13:12 left in the first half.
``I think the biggest thing was our bench play,'' said Purdue coach Sharon Versyp. ``We had a few kids in foul trouble, we had a small lineup in and we got a lot of numbers off of that. And that's when we made our push and had a great run.''
Begay led the Broncos with seven points in the first half.
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